Recall: Evening of Performances (2008–2019)
Q&A with Reto Pulfer

Recall: Evening of Performances (2008–2019) is a year-long programme of interviews, podcasts and contributions from some of the artists who participated in the twelve editions of the celebrated Evening of Performances. Highlighting the evenings’ extraordinary legacies, we will be exploring what the next wave of contemporary performance can become with the artists who have shaped it so far.

Can you recall a personal highlight from your performance at Evening of Performance 2009?

It was during Frieze on Great Titchfield Street [RIA’s former space]. The house was packed that night. I remember well that there were friends among the crowd. There was one narrow staircase leading down to the subterranean room where, among other artworks, my fabric installation was hung.

Without any announcement I started clapping as if I were to applaud. That made people quiet and they started staring at me. I kept on clapping and tensions rose, as no one knew what to expect. Actually, I didn't tell Vincent [Honoré], the Curator, or anyone else what would be happening so that everyone could feel some tension. Later, I shouted as if I were at a concert. At some point a few people joined the clapping until everyone was clapping. That was a really good moment and there seemed to be a lot of joy. However, I left without bowing or any further action and the clapping continued. But at that moment the clapping was not part of my performance anymore.

The clapping was meant to honour the performer who just left. Just the usual clapping ritual. I don't remember what started the audiences’ clapping. Maybe it was a small gesture I made with my hands or I looked at someone intensively. The whole thing felt kind of aggressive.

What draws you to performance?

It's live and alive. Something could happen. Sometimes you want to be able to tell what the performer feels or thinks. But all of these could be part of a game the performer is playing.

Can you define the ideal condition(s) for you to perform with other bodies and objects?

The ideal conditions for performance is definitely an attentive audience where every small movement is cherished and noticed. That makes it easier. But if the audience does not want to respect the performer it can also be interesting and agitating.

If I am working with other artists, it is important that everyone opens up and no one needs to prove something. It can be a burden if a group works too much on concepts that then need to be illustrated in artworks. Too many brains kill space. When I am working with objects I actually need to listen to them. The sound the wood makes before it breaks and so on.

I don't think conditions can be ideal by definition because all conditions are different. And that is exactly the point when doing something: first look at the conditions and understand what it means to you.

What are you researching at the moment?

Geometry and botany.

What would you do to make performance more sustainable and accessible?

Well, part of the joy is that it is fluid and ephemeral and that it can continue living as a legend. Where we can tell each other ‘how great this and that performance was and how much we enjoyed it’. When I am in the museum looking at artworks which are in fact performance documentation, I get terribly bored by the heroising language of it. On the other hand, if all that is left is a blurry b/w picture or a pixelated video shot by a phone then the performances are extremely mystified.

I believe any attempt to represent a performance through its documentation is tricky, as it says as much about the performance as it does about who is documenting it. The experience of documentation of this kind can end up being just as disappointing as when a painting is turned into an interactive installation or disliking a bad film adaptation of a good book.